Director Remote People Operations Jobs in Worcester, MA

About us:

Sparx Hockey was founded in 2013 to solve the greatest unmet need in ice skating sports (e.g., hockey and figure skating) - maintaining sharp skates. Today, Sparx is relied upon for high-quality skate sharpening by families, teams, retailers, rinks, and professional skate sharpeners around the world. In addition to Sparx Hockey's exceptional products and record-setting growth, we also pride ourselves on being a fun place to work. Although it's not an employment prerequisite, many of our employees still play, coach, and parent hockey players. We do more than just build great hockey products; we use them ourselves. When we're not working hard or playing hockey our team can be found having a blast at our annual summer outing and impromptu barbecues that fill in the rest of the Sparx annual event calendar. Our global headquarters are in Acton, MA and are home to our R&D, Operations, Marketing, Sales, and Finance teams as well as our production lines and warehouse/distribution center.

The position:

We are seeking a Director of Global Sourcing to join our leadership team. This role is responsible for executing our long-term, data-driven global procurement strategy, alignment with stakeholders, and establishing enterprise-wide cost-reduction and risk-mitigation benchmarks. You will design and orchestrate a resilient, scalable supplier network, direct multi-million dollar vendor portfolios, and support hyper-growth business targets. You are an ideal candidate if you are a visionary, decisive leader, and an analytical strategist with a proven track record of scaling supply chain infrastructures.

Responsibilities:

• Enterprise Global Strategy: Architect, scale, and pivot a global strategic sourcing framework that guarantees supply continuity, optimizes working capital, and delivers sustainable, long-term margin improvement.
• Executive Vendor Governance: Direct the structure for all major Master Services Agreements (MSAs) and international contracts; establish global supplier scorecard metrics including advanced KPIs, capacity hedges, and liability/defective product policies.
• Operational & Value Chain Alignment: Partner directly with the VP of Operations and VP of Engineering to synchronize raw material pipelines with agile, multi-site production schedules and market demand forecasting.
• Competitive Procurement Infrastructure: Foster an innovative, technology-driven procurement ecosystem that utilizes advanced analytics to yield continuous improvements in total cost of ownership (TCO), quality, and service levels.
• Lifecycle & PLM Oversight: Oversee the data integrity of complex multi-level Manufacturing and Purchasing Bills of Materials (BOMs) across product portfolios, ensuring seamless transitions from NPI (New Product Introduction) to mass production.
• Executive Dashboard Reporting: Own and report departmental milestones, global risk registries, capital expenditures, and financial variances directly to executive leadership.
• Strategic Ecosystem Development: Act as the executive sponsor for critical product development initiatives, mapping future product roadmaps to global contract manufacturing capabilities.

Qualifications:

• ERP & Technology Architecture: Deep experience designing or optimizing material planning architectures within advanced ERP frameworks (such as NetSuite, SAP, or Oracle).
• Advanced Data Modeling: Mastery of advanced analytical tools, spend-cube modeling, and macro-driven financial projections to map global supply chain dependencies.
• Executive Presence & Collaboration: Proven track record of operating autonomously as a department head while effectively aligning cross-functional VP and C-level internal teams.
• Strategic Supply Chain Scaling: Expert in scaling end-to-end supply chain ecosystems for global consumer brands.
• Tenure & Industry Expertise: 10+ years of progressive sourcing, planning, and procurement leadership experience; specifically required to have 5+ years heading teams within fast-paced environments focused on complex, electro-mechanical consumer products.
• Advanced Fabrication Knowledge: Comprehensive technical understanding of international component fabrication processes (e.g., custom metal extruding, precision machining, complex plastic injection molding, high-tonnage metal stamping, and specialized sheet metal fabrication).
• Electromechanical System Sourcing: Deep expertise managing global contract manufacturers (CMs) specializing in PCBA assembly, complex wire/cable harnesses, and high-value electrical subsystems.
• Sustainable Packaging Design Strategy: Proven experience strategically sourcing mass-scale product packaging, industrial corrugated goods, and protective foam molded products.
• Global Trade & Tariff Mitigation: Highly versed in macro-economics, international trade laws, foreign trade agreements (FTAs), and cross-border regulatory compliance to insulate global supply chains from geopolitical volatility.
• Master-Level Negotiations: Renowned background in leading multi-party, high-stakes international vendor contract negotiations to optimize corporate cash-flow cycles and payment terms.
• Multi-Tier Supplier Management: Extensive experience structuring governance programs for Tier-1 contract manufacturers as well as critical Tier-2 sub-component suppliers.
• Global Availability: Ability to travel up to 25% internationally to audit critical strategic partners, factories, and global vendor facilities.

Extra Credit:

Experience with hockey either as a player, coach, or parent

Benefits:

• Base Salary: $150k - $180k/year, commensurate with experience
• Health, Dental, Vision, 401(k) with employer match
• Generous PTO